Work

Gilroy's Black Atlantic diaspora: climate displacement and rights‐bearing beyond the nation

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Nationalism studies have only recently started to grapple with the Anthropocene as a foundational shift for the discipline. One of the effects of climate change is the forced displacement of large populations, and if access to rights cannot be ensured outside the structures of territorial sovereignty, this migration could easily translate into widespread rightlessness. I argue that this necessitates a rethinking of how communities become rights‐bearing and how such rights‐bearing communities have existed outside the structures of the nation‐state. Specifically, I propose looking to Paul Gilroy's account of the Black Atlantic diaspora as an example of a rights‐bearing community that successfully claimed “the right to have rights” through a concerted effort of vocalising experiences of displacement. Reading Gilroy through rights‐scholarship in political theory I argue that the Black Atlantic can inform work on climate diasporas and their latent political potential as rights‐bearing communities.

Source: Nations and Nationalism

DOI: 10.1111/nana.13055

Author: Nanna Lilletvedt Sæten

Institution: University of Cambridge

Language: English

Topic: Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Reduced inequalities, Climate action

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,570